How should companies prepare for the launch of the gTLDs in late 2013?

As you are probably aware, on 13 June 2012 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) published a list of applications by companies and individuals to operate their own generic top level domain (gTLD) – or, simply put, the part to the right of the dot.  At present there are 22 gTLDs on the internet such as .com .net .org .info .biz etc (in addition to the 250 two-letter country codes .es .de .uk etc).   

The list of applications contains names such as .hotel  

Most of the applications are to sell domain names at the second level, similarly to how registrations in the dot com zone work currently.  An example of a second-level registration would be fuerte.hotel - depending on which applicant succeeds, the dot hotel will be open for anybody to register, whether they are involved with the hotel industry or not.  There will be protection for existing trademark holders, who can register names in a “sunrise” in advance of the general availability.

As an example, the Fuerte Hotel Group in Marbella, whose current main website is fuertehoteles.com, will decide whether to register fuerte.hotel as the main website for their hotels, or to make a defensive registration in case a cyber squatter, domain trader or other new business, registers first.

The launch of new gTLD’s next year will undoubtedly have a profound impact on business, especially the tourist industry, as they navigate through the new environment.
“gTLDs are of significant concern to large corporations,” commented Elisa Cooper, of the brand protection company Mark Monitor, about a survey they had conducted. “55% of respondents stated that new gTLDs will create opportunities for brand harm and confusion.”      

Other names that have been applied for - and which could have a potentially positive or negative impact on the tourist industry in Andalucia - are:

What steps can companies take now to prepare for the launch of the gTLDs next year?

• Prepare for submission of trademark data to the new “Trade mark Clearing House”
• Rationalise domain portfolios and ensuring domain policies are current
• Implement policy for brand abuse and budgeting accordingly for new registrations
• Understand and utilise ICANN’s trade mark rights protection mechanisms including:

Uniform Rapid Suspension – new mechanism to request suspension of domains that infringe trade marks.
Trade Mark Claims Notice – new mechanism to warn anyone registering a domain of the existence of a trade mark (if the business has registered it in the “Trade Mark Clearing House”) and to notify the trade mark holder that the domain registration has take place.
Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Policy – rightsholder may file a complaint against registries who have acted in bad faith with the intent to profit from systematic registration of infringing domains.
Registry Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure - complaint procedure for community-based gTLDs.
Sunrise Registrations  - register the domain for the brand in the “sunrise” period  ahead of general public registration, if the trade mark has been registered in the “Trade Mark Clearing House”
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy – complaint procedure for disputes regarding alleged abusive registration of domain name.

For information about the ICANN gTLD programme visit    http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/ 

You can see the full list of all 1,930 applications here
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en

Chris Chaplow is Vice Chair of the Business Constituency of ICANN, in addition to being MD of Andalucia.com. You can contact him for advice on protecting your brand online, and for guidance on preparing for the launch of the gTLDs in late 2013.